Vienna Resident Announces Run For School Board

Vienna resident Ryan McElveen announced Monday he would run for an at-large position on the Fairfax County School Board.

McElveen, a 2008 graduate of the University of Virginia, currently works in educational programming at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and as a Mandarin Chinese tutor to local students. He also holds a Master’s of International Affairs from Columbia University.

The Vienna native is one of six Democratic candidates running for three at-large seats. The Fairfax County Democratic Committee will endorse candidates in late May. Board elections are held in November.

McElveen, who was valedictorian of Marshall High School's class of 2004, has also worked for The Clinton Foundation and The Clinton Global Initiative; in the international operations and policy at The Boeing Company; and as assistant director of the Chinese language program at the UVA Center in Shanghai, China.

He was also chosen as a 2010 finalist in the Washington Post’s “America’s Next Great Pundit” contest.

McElveen completed all of his primary and secondary schooling in the Fairfax County School System: Before graduating from Marshall, he attended Kilmer Middle School and Westbriar Elementary School. His father is also a veteran English teacher at Kilmer.

"I am thrilled to have this opportunity to advocate for Fairfax students and teachers. Since my time as a student in FCPS, I’ve seen resources distributed inequitably, class sizes increased, fees implemented for participating in sports, and an increasing number of teachers forced to commute from elsewhere because they cannot afford the cost of living here," he said in a statement released Monday. "It is time for us to reverse these trends and renew our promise for the future."